Following a strong 17th place in Liège-Bastogne-Liège plus 25th in the Amstel Gold, Fabian Wegmann will continue his return from a broken collarbone in Saturday’s Eschborn-Frankfurt City loop, formerly known as the Rund um den Henninger-Turm.

Twelve months ago Wegmann came out best in the 1.HC race, outsprinting Karsten Kroon. Success for Milram in this year’s event is important, as the contest is one of the biggest on home soil and the team is still looking for a replacement sponsor for 2011. While a win would not guarantee a backer, the good publicity it would generate would certainly not hinder the search.

“Winning the race last year was a dream for me,” said Wegmann. “This year it will be more difficult for us, because of the changed course - it is flat at the end for longer than last year. We must ride attentively and force an early decision.”

His quick recovery from his broken collarbone will boost confidence, said directeur sportif Christian Henn. “Fabian's performance level is definitely improving. He is getting better step by step better. That makes us hopeful for May 1.”

However he underlined that the result was far from a foregone conclusion. “We must make the race very difficult. Last year we had a nearly perfect race day, in which we were able to accomplish everything we wanted to,” he explained. “We need another one like that this year, in order to leave our strong rivals behind us.”

The race begins in Eschborn and is approximately 200 kilometres in length, including seven categorised climbs. A strong field has been amassed, with HTC Columbia, Rabobank and Katusha sending riders such as André Griepel, Tony Martin, Nick Nuyens, Bram Tankink, Filippo Pozzato, Sergei Ivanov and Robbie McEwen.

Of those, Katusha is probably the hungriest for the win, with a very strong spring Classics campaign. Its riders were amongst the most aggressive in the peloton, but only had Alexandr Kolobnev’s second place in Liège-Bastogne-Liège to show for all the effort.

As for Team Milram, it has clocked up four wins this season. Its riders triumphed in the Trofeo Inca and stage one of Tirreno-Adriatico (both Linus Gerdemann), stage three of the Vuelta a Murcia (Luke Roberts) and stage one of the Volta a Catalunya (Paul Voss). It’s a good start, but more victories are needed to aid the sponsor search.

Gerdemann and Voss will race alongside Wegmann on Saturday, as will Wim de Vocht, Roy Sentjens, Niki Terpstra (NED/Krommenie), Peter Wrolich and Christian Knees, who took third and fifth in the last two years.